It has been reported that Idris Elba is favourite to take over the iconic role of James Bond from Daniel Craig, with producers hinting that the Luther actor is their number-one choice. The Independent reported that director Antoine Fuqua revealed that 007 producer Barbara Broccoli said "it is time" for a non-white actor to take over the part, and that it will "happy eventually". Antoine said: "Idris could do it if he was in shape. You need a guy with physically strong presence. Idris has that."
Idris is tipped to play the next James Bond
Speaking about the rumours that he could play Bond, the 45-year-old told the Metro: "It's interesting that the James Bond thing continues on. I think it's more about, 'We just want to have a black guy play James Bond' rather than 'Idris Elba, the actor, play James Bond'. That's the part that I'm like, 'Ugh, come on.' Are we interested in having a Bond character other than being a male? It could be a woman – could be a black woman, could be a white woman – but I think, that character, everybody would like to see it have…do something different with it, why not?"
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Chatting on Good Morning America, he added: "I think I'm too old for that. Running around in cars and ladies and martinis, who wants to do that? Sounds terrible… I keep saying if it were to happen it would be the will of a nation because there haven't been any talks between me and the studio about any of that. But everywhere I go people want that to happen." Indeed, fans were delighted to hear the recent news on Twitter, with one writing: "Of course Idris Elba should be James Bond, do we even need to pretend there's a question here?" Another added: "Idris Elba is one of the finest men on the planet. He would not be lucky to play Bond, the studio would be lucky to have him do it."
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